Project ELE

by Rebecca Gober & Courtney Nuckels

  ****

  Thirty minutes later we've stashed our tablets and are waiting by the elevator in the commons area; all of us except Claire that is. "I wonder what's taking her so long," I say tapping my foot.

  A few moments later Claire rounds the corner out of breath. "Sorry guys, the maid was trying to chase me down. She thought I was trying to steal her small shampoo bottles."

  I let out a short laugh and push the down button on the elevator.

  "Here goes nothing." I say to no one in particular.

  We all pile in and Alec pushes the button at the bottom labeled 'S'. The elevator doors close and we jerk at the motion. The ride down seems to take forever. I'm not sure if it's just a long way down or if the elevator is just slow. My ears begin to pop at our descent so I'm guessing it's the former. After a good minute the elevator settles and the door opens. We shuffle off and the doors close.

  Before us is a vast room at least ten stories high illuminated by dim track lighting. There are humongous wooden crates lined up for as far as the eye can see. Each crate is large enough to hold our entire group inside then some. I count four different rows in the warehouse and immediately feel our plan fizzle. How are we going to be able to find what we need? "There has to be over one hundred crates in here. There's just no way--" I begin.

  Claire cuts me off. "Well, there must be some organizational method or a map. They wouldn't just store crates like this where the contents are impossible to locate." Without another word Claire begins searching the area near the elevator doors. "Ah-ha," I hear her say from around the corner. "Found it!"

  We all shuffle around the corner to find a piece of paper haphazardly taped to the right of the elevator. There is a label for each crate briefly telling of the department for which they belong. Claire takes her finger and begins searching for Sanitation. Her finger stops on one of the sections at the far end of the warehouse. "Here," she says. "I wish we could take this map with us. It's going to be hard to find."

  "That would be my job," I say taking in a mental snapshot of the map. "Follow me." My friends pause and look at me questionably but once again I point to my head and without saying anything else they nod their heads.

  It takes us a good five minutes to find the correct boxes. Not because they're hard for me to locate, but because of this area being so big. "If I'm right, they should be right...up...here." We stop in front of a stack of boxes.

  Alec finds a latch on the side of the box and pulls the boarded door down. It lands with a loud thump as he lets it drop the last few feet to the ground. We all freeze at the sound. It doesn't look like anyone's in here, but with as vast as this place is we can never be sure. A few moments pass as we listen for any footsteps or voices. I breathe a small sigh of relief and watch as small bits of wood dust settle on the floor. Alec is the first to step into the crate. He finds a string and pulls on it. A light clicks on the ceiling of the crate and illuminates its contents. Shelves have been built on either side of the crate holding different sized cardboard boxes. Thankfully, these boxes are labeled. We all pile into it and begin searching for things we may need.

  "I've got gloves," I hear Claire say.

  "Here's some boots," Alec says as he wrestles a box to the floor.

  "And here's some goggles?" Connor says like it's a question. "Not sure we'll need them but here they are," he says justifying his comment.

  "Oh, here's some waders." I read the label on the box out loud.

  We each drag our boxes out of the crate and open them together. I pull out several pairs of waders from mine and find they are a 'one size fits all,' which basically means I'll look like I'm drowning in them. Oh well, I think to myself. It's not like I'm going for fashionista of the month or anything. We pull out four of everything and then put away the boxes.

  I look through the items and find the boots. Those are also a 'one size fits all.' They look like clown shoes if you ask me. They are so big that they can fit over our tennis shoes.

  "Sweet! Look what I found," Connor exclaims from inside the crate. He brings out a small box placing it at my feet.

  "What is it?" I ask.

  He pries it open and pulls out a-- clothespin?

  "Connor, why would we need clothespins? We have laundry facilities upstairs."

  Connor gives a small laugh and jumps up. He opens the clothespin and says, "So we don't have to smell the poo!" He opens the wooden pin and holds it over the bridge of his nose. "See," He says in a nasal voice before he lets go of the clothespin all together. "Ta-ahhh! Owww!" His eyes are watering as he quickly pulls it off his nose.

  We break out in hysterical laughter as he rubs the bridge of his now-red schnozzle. He glares at us and says, "That freaking hurt!" He crosses his arms over his chest to show us his displeasure with our laughter.

  "I say bring those pins along Connor. We can always use them as a weapon against the sewer rats!" Claire jokes and puts her arm around Connor in a playful, conciliatory gesture. He blushes. All of the frustration is gone from his expression and he just looks at Claire with big dopey, infatuated eyes.

  "Or the alligators. We can pin their mouths shut!" Alec jests.

  The sweet look on Connor's face gives way to an annoyed grimace. "Very funny guys."

  Claire's laugh diffuses the tension and Connor eventually joins in with the rest of us.

  "Oh! There's still one more thing we need," says Claire. "Flashlights." We all give her a mmhmm and begin searching the contents. Thankfully, stuffed in the corner, there is a small box labeled flashlights.

  "Let's just hope they have batteries," I mumble to myself.

  We each grab a pair of gloves, waders, boots, goggles and a flashlight and start changing. Once I get mine on I turn to the others. I almost pee myself at the sight of them. I immediately begin laughing hysterically unable to control myself.

  We look absolutely ridiculous. Our goggles are way too big for our face, and the waders in and of themselves are a sight to be seen with the way they hike up to our armpits and hang from suspenders.

  We gain control over ourselves and start closing things up, boots squeaking as we waddle about.

  I feel like a penguin hobbling around with these clown shoes on. I stop mid stride, "Wait. Why exactly are we wearing all this gear now? Can't we take it off? At least the boots, until we get there?" I reach down and take off the boots leaving my shoes on underneath and the others follow suit.

  "Okay," Alec begins. "I guess we need to figure out where the sewer lines start, or at least where we can gain access to them."

  All three of them turn to look at me. "What?" I say. "Oh, yeah, photographic memory." As if I need to remind myself.

  I look around at where we are. "Well, if memory serves me right, and it usually does, there's some sort of entrance a few feet to the left of the rear elevator. I'm not sure what kind of entrance it is, but it had the lines on the blueprint like it was a door of some sort."

  "Alright then, let’s get this show on the road," Connor says with a little too much enthusiasm.

  It doesn't take us long before we can see the elevator shaft about twenty feet ahead of us. Claire stops suddenly and holds out her hand to quiet us, not that we were making much noise in the first place. "Do you hear that?" Claire whispers.

  We all stop and look around listening to the silence. Then I hear it, a small clanking sound coming from the direction of the elevators.

  "We need to hide, and fast," Alec whispers in a panic. He ushers us all in behind a large grouping of boxes near the rear wall. We get as far back as we can and kneel on the ground. We are all huddled close together.

  I'm leaning against Alec and my nose is so close to his neck that I can smell his aftershave. It smells like mint and spices. Alec holds his finger up to his lips to quiet us.

  I notice that the boxes are all labeled with the number three. I cringe, hoping that the odd number isn't some sort of omen. My heart starts pounding and I pray that I don't have anoth
er one of those panic attacks.

  We hear the sound of the elevator coming to a stop and the doors open. Instantly I hear Candy’s trademark laugh as her and her minions step off the elevator. I squeeze back further into our corner trying to become one with the box behind us.

  Alec must sense my anxiousness because I feel his hand enclose mine. I freeze not knowing what to do. Heat rushes to my cheeks. I've never really held a boys hand before, at least not a boy that I'm not related to. It feels comfortable and safe. It also feels--I don't know, different.

  I'm pulled back to the situation at hand when I hear several pairs of footsteps staggering around on the hard cement floor. "Dude, she is totally wasted," a male voice says.

  "I ammm not," I hear Candy say accenting the 't'. She sounds completely out of it, drunk even. I hear a heavy thud on the floor and one of the people mutters a slew of cuss words.

  "Help her up man, she keeps falling." This guy doesn't sound that sober either. Their steps move closer to where we are and I try and scoot back more in hopes of becoming invisible. I feel Alec's arms wrap around me. My heart flutters but for a different reason this time. He's the only thing keeping me grounded right now. With the way things are sounding out there, God only knows what would happen if they found us. They seem pretty wasted, but I have no doubt that Candy will tattle on us in an instant. Not that they should be down here in the first place, but who would get in trouble in that situation, the rich kids or us?

  "Did you find the--stuff?" Candy asks slurring the words together. She lets out a loud laugh and I cringe.

  "Oh man, she is so out of it," one of the guys says. "Here you take her so I can try and find the box." The footsteps stop only a few feet from us. I can see them clearly now and hold my breath. If they were to turn around, we would be spotted for sure. There are three of them: Candy, Zack, and some other guy who is holding Candy up. I don't know his name, but I remember seeing him before in Zack's room.

  The guy hands Candy over to Zack who has to stagger back a few steps as he adjusts to the added weight of his sister. "Hurry up man; she's getting heavy."

  The guy holds his tablet and presses a few buttons. "K, it says medical supplies should be on the next row, about four boxes down. It'll have a red cross label on the side." Zack repositions Candy and they begin walking away.

  I listen to their heavy footsteps as they move further and further away. I suddenly feel light headed and realize I hadn't breathed. I let out a swoosh of breath, feeling remarkably safer now that they aren't so close.

  "I'm going to see if the coast is clear," Alec whispers a minute later. "Just stay here." Alec squeezes my shoulders and gets up from behind me. The sudden loss of his touch makes me feel cold. He was the only thing keeping me from going into panic mode.

  I watch as Alec peeks around the corner. He stays there for a moment then comes back towards us. "Okay, they're far enough away now that they won’t be able to see us if we're quiet. Let's just go quickly so they don't find out we're here." Alec tells us in a hushed whisper. We all nod our heads and slowly get up. Alec goes to the corner again and makes sure the coast is still clear.

  He ushers us forward with his hand and leads us out into the open. I walk quickly and quietly feeling utterly exposed. I really don't want to find out what would happen if they saw us or what type of reprimand we would receive if we get caught down here.

  We manage to get past the elevators and to the area where the blueprints said a door should be. I don't find a door but I do find a large metal grate located on the back wall just feet from where I'm standing. I quietly walk towards it pointing to it so the others will see. This has to be it! It's about four feet in diameter so it's definitely large enough for the normal human to move through it. I run my fingers along the edges of the grate trying to find a way to open it. Disappointment elopes me as I figure out you'd need a screwdriver to get it open. I put my head in my hand frustrated with the situation. We got this far only to be stopped by a few simple screws.

  I feel a tap on my shoulder and look back to find Connor standing there holding out a swiss-army-knife. He whispers, "May I?"

  I nod my head and smile as he goes to work. He works quickly and quietly handing me each screw as he takes them out. Two minutes and eight screws later, Connor starts to remove the grate. It makes a small scraping sound. He immediately stops and we listen to see if they heard us. We breathe a sigh of relief when we hear no sign of Candy or her minions.

  With the exception of a few more squeaks, Connor manages to shimmy the grate off fairly quietly. The crawl space is large enough to crawl through comfortably so I silently volunteer to go first. I put on my boots and get on my hands and knees. I crawl in awkwardly and the others follow behind.

  The concrete tubes are cold and hard against my knees. I move forward far enough to allow everyone room to get inside and then I wait. Connor is the last to crawl in. After he's inside he grabs the grate off the floor and sets it up against the wall. It makes a small thud and I inwardly cringe. Connor snaps around and waves his hand for me to hurry up and go. I crawl through the shaft as quickly as I can. The further we move away from the opening the darker the tunnels get. We don't want to chance turning on the flashlights just yet so I move along through the dark, using nothing but my memory as a guide. Soon I come up on a turn and am grateful, as I know it will give us the cover we so desperately need.

  Once we're all huddled together around the corner I call them in together for a quick meeting. Connor turns on a flashlight from the back and illuminates our group. My eyes feel a bit blinded by the white light but it's nice not to be wrapped in absolute darkness. "Okay, so right now we're in a shaft that leads to the sewers. There's going to be a lot of twists and turns and uphill/downhill climbs before we're going to get there. Just stay with me okay? I know exactly where I'm going." I nod my head and turn back around not waiting for confirmation from my friends. The last thing I need is someone to doubt me, which could make me doubt myself. Lord only knows where we'd end up then.

  Crawling around in the tunnels makes for an interesting challenge. The light from the flashlight bounces up and down against the concrete walls with Connor's movements. I don't know how he's holding it while crawling, but I'm grateful for the light even though it's bouncing all over the place. With all the gear on we end up squeaking and making all kinds of racket. My knees and hands are sore from bearing the weight of my body. Thankfully we don't have much further to go. We round the last uphill turn and almost run smack dab into a large metal plate. "Well, I guess this is it," I say. We are finally in a spot that gives us all standing room so we slowly get up. If I didn't know better, I'd say you could hear the creaking of our knees as we stood.

  Alec looks at me bewildered. "I still can't believe you just did that from memory. I wouldn't have been able to do that in a thousand years!" I give him a small laugh.

  "Seriously, Willow. You really do rock," Connor says. Claire gives an agreeing smile and inwardly, I feel like a million bucks.

  "Okay, so I guess we'd better get ready. This is probably going to be pretty nasty." We all pull our goggles on and Connor moves up to the front to help get the metal plate off. Alec moves past me to help Connor who hands Claire the flashlight. She points it at them. Connor's knife comes in handy again as he pulls out more screws. He sets them on the ground and he and Alec start moving the plate away.

  My eyes transfix on Alec's arms as the strain of the heavy plate becomes apparent. His muscles tense as they work to lower it to the ground. I didn't realize how muscular and strong Alec was.

  "Willow." Alec calls my name.

  I immediately snap out of my trance and feel embarrassed. They've set the plate on the floor and he's motioning for me to lead us again. I wonder if he noticed me staring. I clear my throat. "Okay, let’s move." I inwardly laugh as my voice sounds flustered.

  We have to crouch to walk through the opening but we get to stand back up on the other side. I look aroun
d and notice that we are standing on a large platform.

  Claire moves to the ledge and illuminates the nine-foot drop down to the sewer tunnel with her flashlight.

  Without hesitation, Alec jumps down gracefully followed by Connor.

  Claire and I inch up towards the edge. Both of us take our goggles off to get a better view. "Isn't there a ladder or something," I say to no one in particular. Alec comes towards me and reaches out his hands. "Here, I'll catch you. Just jump."

  I stare at him blankly. "Just jump?" Ha, it's that easy.

  He pulls his goggles off too and then nods his head.

  I can't believe I'm going to do this. I squeeze my eyes shut and take the plunge. I feel a slight free-fall feeling in my stomach before a pair of hands wrap around my waist. My fall is broken and I'm lowered slowly to the ground. I open my eyes to find Alec's hands still around my waist. "You okay?" he asks.

  I nod my head, afraid to talk for fear my voice might break. Butterflies are dancing in my stomach and my pulse is speeding up. I imagine that I can feel the warmth of his hands around my waist but logically I know that it's impossible for his body heat to transfer through the thick rubber lining of my waders.

  We stare at each other for a second and then, Alec wakes up from whatever trance he was in. He removes his hands from my waist.

  I clear my throat and turn away from Alec so he doesn't see the red flushing my face. I watch as Connor helps Claire down in the same way. I can see the baby pink blush fill her cheeks from having physical contact with Connor. The tunnel is fixated with a slight awkwardness that runs thick in the air.

  I grab my flashlight out and turn it on. Connor picks his up from the ground too. We look around at the 'sewage tunnel' in front of us and stare at it for a few seconds realizing that this tunnel is missing one thing: sewage. Back home when I was younger, I would go to the sewage tunnels near the creek by our house. They were about the size of the ones we're in right now, but that's where the similarities stop. The ones by my house always had dirty water running out from somewhere. They also had this distinct smell that would intensify the further in you went. This tunnel just smells slightly musty, like nothing really.

  I look to the others who seem just as confused as I am. "This isn't like any sewer I've ever seen," I say aloud. The others furrow their brows and nod in agreement.

  "Maybe if we walk further in, things will start to change," says Alec. Leave it to Alec to make sense of a confusing situation.

  "Well, Willow, lead the way," Claire says ushering me forward.

  Girls in the front and guys in the back; that's how we walk down the long, never-ending tunnel. Strangely, the scenery never changes; it's just cement tunnels, clean as a whistle. I keep listening for dripping water, or some sounds that a typical sewer would make, but come up short. No rats, no sewage, nothing.

  As we walk, Claire leans in and whispers to me, "I think he likes you."

  I nervously peak behind me to make sure the guys didn't hear. "Who?" I ask her.

  She gets a mischievous grin on her face. "Alec, that's who. Don't tell me you haven't noticed."

  I gawk at her. "Uh, no he doesn't. Besides, I see how Connor looks at you. Now, he's the one that's got it bad!" She smacks me on the shoulder playfully and we giggle.

  I turn back to look at the guys and find that we have definitely sparked their attention.

  "Something funny ladies?" Alec calls from behind us.

  We try and stifle our laughs. "Nope, we're good." I call back to him. Claire elbows me in the arm and I return the favor.

  We walk for another ten minutes or so. Claire and I tease each other back and forth, "Does too." "Does not." The guys just roll their eyes at us.

  Claire stops suddenly, staring ahead like a deer caught in headlights, not moving. "Do you hear that?"

  We all look around exchanging glances of confusion. "Are you hearing things again Claire?" I jab at her.

  She doesn't blink an eye. "No, listen. It's like water rippling or dripping; I'm not sure which. Don't you hear it?"

  I look to the guys. We shake our heads in unison. "Uh, no Claire, we don't hear anything."

  We walk a few yards forward and then the faint sound of something ahead penetrates my ears. Like Claire said, it sounds like water dripping.

  "I hear it now," I say. We make our steps lighter as we edge closer to the source of the noise.

  It seems dimmer all of a sudden and I look up to see that Connor's flashlight went out. "Good thing we brought extra batteries," He says.

  I shine my light on Connor as he digs through his bag to get more batteries. I stifle a chuckle at Connor's appearance. He looks goofy since he's the only one still wearing the goggles.

  Alec moves to pull out his flashlight but I say, "No, lets save the other two flashlights for later. Obviously they kill batteries quickly so we should have backups."

  Alec nods.

  Connor's light flickers back on as he snaps the battery cover back in place. We start moving again. This time Alec is by my side as we walk. The further we go the louder the dripping sound becomes. In fact it doesn't sound like just one drip but several drips of water hitting different surfaces. If you listen just right and open your imagination up you can nearly hear a melody playing out by the inconsistent drips.

  We keep walking and I realize that I'm no longer leading us by my memory because the recorded map of the tunnels has already ended. I wonder why the map stopped if the tunnels keep going. I can tell we are moving uphill by the burn and strain my calves are feeling. The dripping sound starts to get muffled as we move upwards. We walk higher up for a few more minutes until our flashlights hit a brick wall up ahead.

  "Ah, lame!" Connor calls back from behind us. He rips off his goggles and throws them on the ground.

  Disappointment washes over me as I stare at the brick and mortar that blocks our path signaling the end of our journey.

  "Hey, it's okay. This was still fun." Alec rubs his hand on my back in a comforting gesture.

  I look up at him and realize that we are standing only a breath apart. Alec looks radiant in the dim light and I can see that he really means what he said. He did have fun. I still feel let down that we didn't find something amazing in here but I have to admit that the sense of adventure was still worth it. It was something to do and I got to do it with Alec; a guy I probably never would have hung out with in another life.

  "Yeah, it was fun." I say in a whisper as I stare up at his glowing green eyes that seem to be pulling me hypnotically toward him.

  "Ahum!" Connor clears his throat loud enough to break my daze. We turn in his direction to see him standing over Claire who has her ear pressed to the ground.

  When we walk back over to them she sits up and says, "It's down there. Listen." She puts her ear back to the ground and we all get down following suit.

  I groan when I move to my knees. It feels like they are covered in a thousand bruises.

  "Shh!" Claire says.

  I put my hands up and whisper, "sorry."

  "Listen." She gestures for me to put my ear to the ground. I comply this time and I hear the dripping sound. We are right above it! I look up at her with wide eyes.

  "How can we get down there?" Alec sits up and asks.

  "I don't know but there has to be a way. Let's retrace our steps." We all get up. This time we pull out all four flashlights and bounce them all around the tunnel walls as we walk slowly.

  "Got it!" Alec calls out a minute later. I run a few feet ahead to where he is. His flashlight is illuminating a circular metal grate on the floor. It's less than three feet in diameter. We must have walked right past it earlier. We can hear the dripping much clearer from the holes in it.

  "Hey Connor, want to give me a hand with this?" Alec asks.

  Connor runs up and sees what we’re looking at. "Score!" He says with excitement. He pulls out his knife yet again and starts working on the screws. This grate takes a
while longer to pry loose. He has to pull out over twenty screws. Once they are all out both he and Alec work to remove the cover.

  We all stand shoulder to shoulder around the now open hole in the ground. We shine our flashlights down into the pit and find another nine-foot drop to a new tunnel. We look back up at each other and silently ask the question of who should go first. Connor volunteers by raising his hand and waiving it around excitedly.

  "Wait, if we drop down there, how are we going to get back up?" I ask.

  "Good question," Alec answers. "I think we need to plan this through a bit better. Plus, I think it has to be getting close to dinner time."

  My stomach growls loudly in response to the thought of dinner. We got so caught up in what we were doing that we didn't even stop to eat our granola bars.

  Claire nods her head in agreement. "I think that's wise. We should head back and perhaps try again next Sunday..." She looks up at Alec and asks, "Wait, do you think we will get another day off together next Sunday?"

  Alec smiles and says, "I schedule the time off so I don't see why not." We all smile at his answer.

  "We could probably find some sort of make shift ladder to bring with us next time." I add.

  Connor looks really disappointed but then says, "I guess if we are all going to be sensible then we ought to head back." He places the metal grate over the hole but leaves the screws off. Hopefully nobody will come down here and find it tampered with. For good measure he puts the screws in his pockets so they aren't as noticeable.

  We turn and start heading back the way we came. Claire calls out, "Wait!" We all turn back to her. She's still standing by the grate and I'm wondering if she changed her mind about taking on this adventure later. She grins really big and pulls at her giant rubber waders. "I say we leave these here. Just in case we need them next time."

  We all start laughing as if we all just remembered how ridiculous we look. "Good idea Claire bear." Connor says. We all stop laughing just long enough to give him a strange look over his new found nick name for Claire. I look over to see her icy blue eyes smiling up at him. I guess she likes it.

  I'm the first to start stripping off all the unnecessary gear. "Yep, no use in bringing all this back with us." Alec stares at me and I suddenly feel self-conscious taking off the rubber wader pants. I have my scrubs on below it but it still seems a little weird. He recognizes that I must feel awkward because he averts his eyes and then starts taking off his gear.

  A few minutes later we have a giant pile of gear, minus the flashlights, stacked in a neat pile. "We should probably hide this stuff. I mean, I'm not sure how often people come down here but there's no reason to raise a red flag."

  "Yeah that sounds good." Alec says. He and Connor pull the grate off again. We shove our stuff clumsily down the hole then re-cover it again.

  "Let's go." I lead them out of the tunnels. We get stuck at the platform where we jumped from earlier. I guess we should have thought of the same how are we going to get back up plan before we made this jump..

  We shine our lights around looking for something to aid us in climbing up. I know the guys can lift us up but how are they going to get up there.

  After finding nada, we decide that Connor will give Alec a boost up and then he will go in search of a rope. Connor gets down on all fours and Alec steps onto his back like he's a human step stool. Connor lets out a grunt as Alec's weight hits him. Alec still has to jump even with the boost Connor gave him. He jumps, then quickly grabs a hold of the ledge and slowly starts pulling himself up. For a second he struggles and I wonder if he's going to fall but eventually he makes his way up.

  "I'll be right back." He says mostly to me once he's safely on the platform. He leaves and we wait.

  Thirty minutes passes by as we twiddle our thumbs at the bottom of the platform. "I should have gone with him." I say. "I don't know if he will remember his way back or not."

  "I'm sure he’ll be fine." Connor says. He pulls out one of the granola bars we packed and opens it up. We all take a small piece of it and chow down gratefully. My stomach still feels hungry.

  Two more granola bars and another thirty minutes later Alec still hasn't returned. Both Claire and Connor are sitting on the floor leaning against the platform wall. They look on the verge of falling asleep. I pace back and forth as a worrisome nausea grows in my stomach. I think of the possibilities of Alec being lost out there. Or worse, maybe he got caught.

  "I need to go." I look at Connor who is nodding off. "Help me up." I shake his arm to wake him.

  "Huh?" He says then clears his vision.

  "Help me up." I say pointing to the top of the platform. "I'm going to go find him."

  "Um, okay." He stands up slowly. I guess today's adventure took a lot of energy out of him. Or it could be the lack of protein. "How do you want to do this? Do you want to stand on my back like Alec did or do you want to get on my shoulders?"

  I gauge the nine-foot distance and try to remember my tree climbing skills from way back in the day. I'm not sure if I have enough upper body strength so I opt for the shoulders.

  "Okay then." He leans down really low to the ground. "You stand on my shoulders and then slowly I will raise you up. Just stay close to the wall and use it to balance yourself."

  "Okay." I say nervously as I stand on his shoulders. I'm a little more than a foot off the ground and he hasn't even started to stand yet. I'm already feeling wobbly. "Just go slowly please."

  He complies and moves slowly off his knees. He inches up to where he's halfway standing. "Can you grab the ledge?" He asks through grunted teeth as my hand gets closer to the top.

  "Almost there." Claire calls in support from behind me.

  The ledge is just above me so I inch up on my tippy toes and grab ahold of it. Connor stumbles in that second and I start to wobble. "Crap!" I feel like I'm about to fall so I make a last ditch effort to grab at the ledge that is now just above me. I miss and start falling sideways slightly. Connor's hands grip onto my feet and it slows my fall for a second but then gravity takes its ultimate toll and pulls me down to the cold hard concrete with Connor on my tail. It feels like slow motion as I reach my left arm out in front of me to break my fall. No use, it snaps under the weight of my body. I feel my ankle twisting as Connor falls awkwardly on top of me and it all ends with a teeth chattering slam of my head into the concrete. Stars burst in my eyes and the air is knocked out of me as the world goes black.

  "Willow!" I hear my name being called over and over again through the thick fog. I ignore it because this darkness is a comforting bliss. "Willow!" They call again. With each call of my name I feel more and more pain. It starts with a light prickle in my ankle, then moves to a radiating pain in my skull. When the fire comes and washes over my arm, it comes with a high pitch wailing sound. The cry calls out to me over and over until I open my eyes to find Connor and Claire leaning over me.

  "Oh my gosh, Willow, are you okay? Speak to me!" Claire runs to my side.

  I try to answer her over the loud moans in the background and it's not until I reach for my voice that I realize the cries are coming from inside me. My arm is still twisted in the wrong angle and I can see from the horror in her eyes that it must look as bad as it feels.

  Tears are flowing freely down my face and I feel the sweat breaking out on my forehead as I become more and more conscious of my injuries. "It hurts." I cry. A thousand shooting stars fly across my vision as I try to move my arm to my side. I wail again in pain.

  "We have to help her." Claire calls to Connor who looks like he's frozen in place. Not knowing what to do.

  I writhe around on the ground crying out. My head feels like it's going to explode with every movement I make. An intense nausea makes my stomach roll.

  "What the?!" I hear someone land on the ground next to me and then those green eyes are staring at me full of concern. He pushes the sweat-drenched hair from my face. "What happened?" He calls back to the others but doe
sn't move his eyes from mine.

  I lock onto those eyes and imagine that somehow they can heal me, take the pain away from me.

  "She fell." Claire cries hysterically.

  He looks down at me, worry and fear display on his expression as he reads the pain in my eyes, the pain in my cries. "I'm going to get you help, Willow." He turns to look at Connor who is still frozen. In the absence of those green eyes I feel the pain again. I cry out and he flinches. "Look Connor, you need to help Claire up first." He addresses Claire. "Claire, you let down the ladder I brought and Connor and I will hoist Willow up."

  "Okay." She says panicked. They move away from us to start going to work. A few minutes later her flashlight is beaming down at us from above.

  Alec's eyes return to me and I feel that peace again, that reprieve from pain. Even though it's probably psychological I hold onto it. He strokes my hair back comfortingly. "I'm going to have to move you now. It's going to hurt, but I have to get you out of here." He says.

  I nod and continue to stare at him through my blurred eyes. His emerald eyes look kind of like a water painting to me through all of the tears.

  "Okay Connor, come help me." He calls out.

  A second later Connor's at my side. "I'm so sorry Willow, I'm so sorry." He sounds so sad and pitiful but I don't look at him. I just focus on Alec's eyes to get me through. "Is o-ka-y." I grunt out.

  "We need to move now Connor. She needs to get to the clinic quickly. You climb up. I'm going to hand her off to you at the top." Alec says.

  "Yes." Connor hastily leaves my side and climbs the ladder. Alec looks back into my eyes and says, "Do you think you can hold onto me with your right arm?"

  I think about it for a second which makes my head hurt. It feels like I'm swimming through fog but eventually I agree. He nods then hoists me up into his arms. I cry out in pain and he flinches. "I'm sorry, you are going to be okay babe."

  I don't think anything of the intimate reference, my brain is not working right anyhow. It's turning to mush as the shooting stars play across my vision.

  Alec stands up holding me cradled to his chest. I put my right arm around him. "I know it hurts but you need to hang on okay? Don't close your eyes."

  My eyelids flutter and I feel like closing them.

  He jostles me a little which sends the pain shooting back up my left arm and down in my leg. "Can you do that for me?" He asks intently.

  "Yes." I say in a throaty voice that doesn't sound like mine. He starts to climb. He uses only one arm and in the other he carries me. It takes him a while to move up a few rungs in the ladder. In fact due to the pain I'm writhing in, those few moments seem like an eternity. My right arm starts losing its grip as my body starts to shut down, blacking out from the pain again.

  "No, you need to stay awake. I need your help Willow!" He calls loudly into my ear. It startles me and I work to pull myself away from the blackness. I tighten my one armed grip on him again. He moves up a few more rungs and then I feel myself being hoisted up onto the platform by Connor. Alec pulls himself up a minute later and then takes me in his arms once again. This time he doesn't ask me to hold on. I sink my head into his chest and I let the blackness take me off to a land that has no pain.